


Waiting

by tveckling



Category: Dishonored (Video Games)
Genre: Corvo is on his deathbed, M/M, Not quite human Outsider, Post-DotO
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-18
Updated: 2018-04-18
Packaged: 2019-04-24 16:39:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 759
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14359407
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tveckling/pseuds/tveckling
Summary: “I’m right here, okay?”





	Waiting

Corvo was old, much older than he ever thought he’d become. The life he had chosen was never kind, and rarely did anyone live past their fifties. With age came frailty, and the body they had once been able to count on failed them. A misstep. Nothing more was needed, nothing but that momentarily slip.

Lying in bed, feeling part after part of his body giving up, Corvo felt at peace. He had had a long life, after all, and he had done his utmost with the years he had gotten. Sure, he had his mistakes and regrets, but he also knew he had done what he could do make amends for all of them. There wasn’t more he could do.

Emily, with the lines on her face showing the life he had protected, sat next to him, clutching his hand in hers. She had stopped crying, but there was still a deep sadness in her dark eyes. At least this time she had ample time to say goodbye. They had been talking for hours, about everything that came to mind. Even as she grasped after words Corvo could feel that they had reached the end, that there was only the waiting left.

She had told him she had sent the messengers wide and far. Even Billy, despite her position as Emily’s Royal Protector, had been sent, because if anyone would manage to find the Outsider it would be her. Only Corvo could claim to have as strong a bond with him as she did. That neither of them had seen or heard of him in a decade changed nothing.

That had been five days ago.

All he had left to do was waiting, and wait he did. All his duties had been rearranged, all the matters that had occupied his mind had been dealt with, all he owned had been dealt with per his instructions. Now he only slept, and talked with his various visitors, and waited, while he forced his body to hang on.

It was hard to say what sort of dreams he had, whether they were memories or fantasies or something else. What he knew was that most of them were accompanied by a clear-eyed, black haired youth whose faint smiles could warm Corvo’s bones more than any amount of tea. That’s why, when he opened his eyes and saw that same soft smile above him he only smiled back.

“Good day, my dear Corvo,” the Outsider said, and as he took Corvo’s hand Corvo could see the unspilled tears in his eyes. He looked like he had always done, ever the young god of the Void even after he had been separated from it, but there was grief weighing down the corners of his mouth and his shoulders, and Corvo understood. He was there.

“Outsider,” he breathed, then hesitated. “That’s not what you use nowadays, is it?”

The Outsider shook his head, taking Corvo’s hand and holding it against his cheek, pressing his lips against it. “With you I will always be the Outsider. Any other name is inconsequential.”

Corvo smiled. “It has been a long time.”

The Outsider’s smile flickered, and he looked down with a frown. “It has. I guess- I thought there would be more time. Ten years, fifteen, twenty. It was barely a moment for me. I suppose I still haven’t gotten used to living as a human.” The hand holding Corvo’s tightened. “I should have been here. I am so-”

“Don’t.” Corvo pulled at the Outsider’s hand, kissing the knuckles, feeling the perfect, unblemished softness, even after two decades outside of the Void. “I understand why you had to leave. The Abbey is strong in the islands, especially with the way the Void has been wrecking chaos, and with you not aging… I only wish I could have gone with you.”

“You had a life here, one that I would not think to take you from.” The Outsider caressed Corvo’s face. “I don’t regret my choice, but I am sorry. I wanted to spend the rest of my life with you, and I still do. That’s why, if you allow me, I would stay with you, from now on until the very end.”

His eyes were aching, but Corvo only smiled and pressed his lips against the Outsider’s hand again. “I was only waiting for you,” he said.

“Then I will be right here, right next to you.” The Outsider leaned down and kissed Corvo, light but with such affection and love Corvo felt his breath catch. “Okay?”

“Okay.”


End file.
